1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to call conferencing and, in particular, to reservation-less instant conferencing as it relates to business and residential local exchange telecommunication service subscribers.
2. Statement of the Problem
A need exists for Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), wireless carriers, and other Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) to provide simple conferencing services to residential and small office telephone service subscribers. Practicality of the conferencing service for local exchange subscriber line users is dependent upon extreme ease of use through simple, easy to remember access methods that utilize conferencing automation to the maximum practical extent.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,786 B1, owned by the assignee of the present invention, sets forth a method and apparatus for on-demand teleconferencing. This represents a prior call conferencing approach eliminating prior scheduling and operator interaction in setting up a conference call. This prior art approach uses, for example, the Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) out-of-band signaling to dynamically route incoming conference calls to bridges in a conferencing system having available resources. In operation, a subscriber to the conferencing service is given a telephone number for connecting to the conferencing system along with a system pass code and a maximum conference size at the time he or she signs up for the service. In order to have a conference, the subscriber distributes his or her access telephone number to the conference participants along with an access code and optional conference security (or PIN) code of the subscriber's choosing. The processing of the conference call, billing, etc. is handled at the conferencing system. This mechanism is considered overly complex for application to local exchange subscriber line users because of the need to remember these access telephone numbers, access codes, and PIN codes.
Current conferencing service available to local exchange subscriber line users includes three-way conferencing that is typically accessed through a hook-flash mechanism that provides the user with a second dial tone for use in connecting a third party to an existing two-party telephone call. A need exists to extend the capabilities of this type of service through significant simplification of access mechanism as well as through availability of greater than the three conventional call legs simultaneously involved in a conference call event.